This invention relates to an electrosurgical cutting device having a pair of blades which are mounted so as to execute a scissor action whereby, when an electrosurgical voltage is applied, the device acts simultaneously to desiccate and shear living tissue.
It is known to perform surgical cutting using a scissor instrument having a pair of blades mounted at the end of an elongate shaft, each blade being rotatable about an axis which is transverse to the shaft in response to movement of a control rod extending between the blades and a handpiece at the other end of the shaft. The two blades are electrically insulated from each other and have ceramic coatings on their opposing surfaces so that they can be connected to a source of bipolar electrosurgical power without electrical short-circuiting. Tissue trapped between the blades is subjected to passage of electrosurgical current distally of the intersection of the cutting edges of the blades so as to desiccate the tissue prior to mechanical parting as the blades are closed together.